In targeted marketing, it is often desirable to provide information to select individuals located in a certain geographic area. For example, a service provider may prefer to advertise to potential customers who are in close proximity to the provider's office. Likewise, retailers often prefer to advertise in local media so as to reach likely customers for their establishments.
Groupon™, Living Social™, Yippit™ and other Internet-based marketing services have attempted to capitalize on retailer's desires for local advertising. However, the mechanisms employed by such companies are somewhat disconnected from the actual shopping experience. For example, these companies typically require users to access their respective Web sites or to be notified by email of specific deals offered by retailers. Often, such communications are quite asynchronous in the context of a consumer's shopping behavior. Consider, for example, that for a consumer to take advantage of a deal offered by one of these companies, the consumer must first purchase the deal online, download a coupon or voucher, and then travel to the retailer's location with the coupon or voucher in-hand (usually within a prescribed time period) in order to claim the associated merchandise. Unless the consumer is especially interested in the proposed transaction and has the time available to conduct the transaction before the coupon expires, he/she is not likely to partake in such activities. Further, in order to participate in such schemes, retailers must agree to a substantial discount for its products and services and also pay commissions to the advertising services. As a result, it is questionable whether retailer experiences much in the way of a significant benefit from such advertising schemes.